The autumn edition of Plovdiv Jazz Fest began 12 years ago. Today, it is one of the most established and influential jazz festivals in the country, with a distinctive and consistently vibrant programme. This year, Plovdiv Jazz Fest is being held three times – in spring, summer and autumn. So far, the programme has featured outstanding jazz stars such as Jan Garbarek and Trilok Gurtu, Gretchen Parlato and Taylor Eigsti, Mike and Leni Stern, Peter Slavov, David Linx, Tigran Hamasyan and many others.
The finale of this remarkable jazz year will take place from 6 to 8 November 2026 at the Boris Hristov House of Culture, where the programme continues with contemporary improvisational music, European jazz, artists associated with the aesthetics of ECM Records, and the highly poetic, philosophical and profound work of exceptional world musicians such as Aaron Parks, Shai Maestro, Emma Smith, Cenk Erdoğan and Elina Duni. Alongside them, the stage of Plovdiv Jazz Fest will also host a special project dedicated to the music of Miles Davis by Rosen Zahariev-Roko, Steve Hamilton, Vasil Hadjigrudev, Borislav Petrov, Peter Momchev and Alexander Deyanov-Skiller.
Once again, trombonist Vilislav Stoyanov will host two of the festival evenings.
From its very establishment, the festival has also presented its own special award for overall contribution to jazz music in Bulgaria. This year, the award will go to jazz singer Hilda Kazasyan.
She has been part of the country’s jazz scene for more than 30 years and has released seven albums. Hilda Kazasyan was born into a family of musicians. Her father was the renowned conductor and composer Vili Kazasyan. She studied percussion at the Music School and the Conservatory. She says that classical music gave her discipline, while jazz gave her the freedom to be herself. To this day, the two go hand in hand in her voice: “But I feel happiest on stage, with a microphone in my hand. There I sing the way I speak – sincerely and from the heart.”
The main programme of Plovdiv Jazz Fest includes two concerts on each festival evening. On 6 November at the Boris Hristov House of Culture, the event will begin with concerts by renowned pianist and composer Aaron Parks and his trio, as well as the specially created for Plovdiv Jazz Fest concert “100 Years of Miles Davis” by Rosen Zahariev All Stars.
The concert, conceived by Rosen Zahariev-Roko, marks 100 years since the birth of the legendary American trumpeter, composer and visionary who changed jazz music more than once. Miles Davis created some of the best-selling jazz albums, won eight Grammy Awards, received 32 nominations and was honoured with three awards from the Grammy Hall of Fame. The concert in tribute to Davis will include music from all periods of his career – from bebop to hip-hop. The music will cover everything that happened between the albums Birth of the Cool and Doo-Bop. For trumpeter and multi-instrumentalist Rosen Zahariev-Roko, this is a way of showcasing the influence of this exceptional musician on contemporary music. The project features Steve Hamilton on piano, Vasil Hadjigrudev on double bass, Borislav Petrov on drums, and the two guest musicians Peter Momchev on tenor saxophone and beatboxer Alexander Deyanov-Skiller.
Renowned pianist and composer Aaron Parks and his trio will close the festival’s opening night. A musician with an exceptionally innovative outlook, his professional career began in remarkable fashion at an early age. Parks has released 15 albums as a leader and has taken part in a huge number of collaborative projects. He has also recorded with Kendrick Scott, Ambrose Akinmusire and Kurt Rosenwinkel, and was an integral member of the quartet James Farm alongside Joshua Redman, Matt Penman and Eric Harland. Invisible Cinema was his debut album for Blue Note, released in 2008. Subsequently, the pianist signed with ECM. Parks has released remarkable acoustic projects on ECM Records, including the solo piano album Arborescence and the trio album Find the Way, recorded with jazz greats Ben Street and Billy Hart.
The following evening (7 November), the festival continues with jazz singer Emma Smith and her quartet, as well as a concert by guitarist Cenk Erdoğan and his trio.
A virtuoso fretless guitar and tambura player, an outstanding composer and arranger, Cenk Erdoğan is among the few guitarists at this level who combine lyrical melodies associated with the millennia-old history and culture of Anatolia with contemporary jazz expression and the harmonies of his unique fretless guitar. With a unique sound and deeply melodic style, Cenk Erdoğan is one of the few universally acclaimed masters of the fretless guitar and a teacher of the instrument at Berklee College of Music. He has played with musicians including Trilok Gurtu, Dominique Di Piazza, Dave Weckl, Kai Eckhardt and Eric Lévi, Mehmet İkiz, Luca Stricagnoli, Samuelito, Jim Kimo West, Mike Dawes, Olli Soikkeli, Antonio Forcione and many others. He was part of the “Rachmaninoff Anatolian Project”, collaborating with Gül Diyâr Tanrı Dağlı and Ertan Tekin.
He is among the musicians who appear on Jim Kimo West’s album More Guitar Stories, which received a Grammy in 2021. Cenk Erdoğan has 52 albums as a leader and guest musician, as well as compilations and numerous soundtracks for films and television programmes. At Plovdiv Jazz Fest, he will perform with his trio.
At 9:15 p.m. that same evening, the concert of multiple award-winning British jazz singer Emma Smith will begin – an artist known for her powerful voice, magnetic stage presence and fearless artistic mastery.
Emma Smith has released five solo albums and performed at venues including the Royal Albert Hall and jazz clubs in Paris, New York and Milan. Music has brought her together with artists such as Michael Bublé, the Quincy Jones Orchestra, Jeff Goldblum and Postmodern Jukebox, establishing her reputation as one of the most captivating and exciting voices in contemporary jazz. She has been part of the world-famous vocal group The Puppini Sisters since 2012. In recent years, Emma Smith has received numerous awards and accolades. She is one of only two singers ever to have been awarded the Worshipful Company of Musicians Medal. She also received the Jazz Vocalist of the Year award from the Parliamentary Jazz Awards. In Plovdiv, Emma Smith will perform with her quartet.
The final festival evening on 8 November will feature two outstanding concerts by the group led by renowned pianist Shai Maestro and the quartet of jazz singer and composer Elina Duni.
At 7:30 p.m., Swiss-Albanian vocalist Elina Duni will take the stage at Plovdiv Jazz Fest together with her group. The group’s music combines Balkan folk traditions with the language of jazz. After releasing the albums Baresha and Lume Lume on Meta Records, the quartet began a long-term collaboration with ECM Records, where it has so far released six albums: Matanë Malit, Dallëndyshe, Partir (a solo project in which Duni accompanies herself on piano, acoustic guitar and percussion), Lost Ships, A Time to Remember and Reaching for the Moon. The work of Duni and her group has received considerable attention and positive reviews from European critics, who have noted its lyrical finesse and in-depth exploration of Albanian folklore. Elina Duni received the Swiss Grand Award for Music in 2017. For nearly ten years, she has also collaborated and worked on numerous joint projects with renowned London guitarist Rob Luft.
Plovdiv Jazz Fest will conclude with a concert by one of today’s leading jazz pianists.
Shai Maestro is known for a uniquely lyrical sound combined with an avant-garde rhythmic concept, sophisticated composition in irregular metres and a deep sense of storytelling in improvisation. After ten years in New York, he settled in Spain, where he has built an international career as a pianist, composer, bandleader and guest musician across different genres. At just 19, after turning down a full scholarship from Berklee College of Music, Shai Maestro joined Avishai Cohen’s trio, taking part in numerous tours and several landmark recordings. For five years he played in Ari Hoenig’s band, while also collaborating with musicians of the calibre of Mark Turner, Larry Grenadier, Jeff Ballard, Nasheet Waits, Joel Ross, Ben Wendel and Michael Mayo. Maestro performed on Mayo’s album Fly, which was nominated for two Grammy Awards. A versatile composer, Shai Maestro has written music for films and performed classical concerts with orchestras; in 2024, he completed a 50-minute orchestral work commissioned and premiered in Portugal. He has taught at The New School in New York and leads masterclasses around the world. Maestro tours globally and develops multidisciplinary collaborations, exploring new territory at the intersection of improvisation, composition, technology and intercultural dialogue.
Over the festival’s three days, there will also be side events and jam sessions.
The very first event of the festival will take place on 6 November, immediately before its official opening. Works from the “Towards STRONG” project by the Emprove Foundation will be presented in the foyer of the Boris Hristov House of Culture. “Towards STRONG” uses the power of art to awaken, provoke dialogue, create empathy and change attitudes, reaching tens or even hundreds of thousands of people with the strength and stories of women who have overcome violence.
The project brings together Bulgarian and international artists from different artistic fields, selected through an open call in 2025, followed by a creative process mentored by the Women Survivors group (the first Bulgarian community of women who have managed to overcome violence by an intimate partner, for women who have embarked on a path towards change and a new life), and participation in a five-day art residency. In Plovdiv, we will see works by artists Boyan Montero, Deyana Stareva, Kalina Hristova, Nia Mechkueva and Velika Prahova.
As every year, after the festival evenings at the Boris Hristov House of Culture, the music will continue at Bee Bop Cafe from 11 p.m., where jam sessions with young jazz musicians and singers will be held. The first evening (6 November) will be led by young pianist Pavel Naydenov.
He studies piano at the St. Kliment Ohridski Secondary School of Arts in Dobrich. At just 13, he won the National Competition for Young Jazz Performers, shortly followed by an award at the first edition of the “Children in Jazz” stage at the Bansko Jazz Festival. He has received the Grand Prix and first prizes for composer and performer at the Youth Jazz Fest – Sofia. This year, at the Milcho Leviev National Music Competition, he won the opportunity to perform in a concert with the Bulgarian National Radio Big Band.
In support of young talent, Plovdiv Jazz Fest, together with Jazz FM Radio and Vintage Sound Factory, will produce his first professional recording. The following day, the talented musician will be among the participants in Aaron Parks’ masterclass for young pianists. It will once again take place at Vintage Sound Factory.
The visual identity of all 2026 editions is the work of Punkt Studio.
Plovdiv Jazz Fest // Autumn Edition
Boris Hristov House of Culture
06.11.2026
7:30 p.m. “100 Years of Miles Davis” by Rosen Zahariev All Stars
9:15 p.m. Aaron Parks Trio
07.11.2026
7:30 p.m. Cenk Erdoğan Trio
9:15 p.m. Emma Smith Quartet
08.11.2026
7:30 p.m. Elina Duni Quartet
9:15 p.m. Shai Maestro Trio
...
Plovdiv Jazz Fest is organised by Blue M.
The autumn programme of Plovdiv Jazz Fest is being held with the financial support of Plovdiv Municipality and is part of the city’s Cultural Calendar. The autumn edition of Plovdiv Jazz Fest is being held with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and is part of the National Cultural Calendar for 2026.
The event is being held with the media support of Jazz FM, BTA, Katra FM, Vǎpreki, Vizh, Plovdiv Time, Traffic News, Aktsent News, How2Plovdiv and Pod Tepeto.